دل سنبھل جا ذرا، پھر محبت کرنے چلا ہے تو Dil Sambhal Ja Zara, Phir Mohabbat Karne Chala Hai Tu — Steady, Heart, You're About To Fall In Love Again

Sayeed Quadri

Geet

A man has noticed something dangerous happening inside him, and he has decided to address it directly. The heart, he says, steady now. You are about to fall in love again. The whole song is that warning, delivered to the organ in question, and the heart, of course, does not listen.

Sayeed Quadri wrote it for Murder 2 in 2011, Mithoon set it, and three singers, Mohammed Irfan, Arijit Singh and Saim Bhat, shared it between them. Five passages ahead, and every one of them is a man arguing with himself and losing.

01 — jab-jab tere paas main aaya ek sukoon mila

جب جب تیرے پاس میں آیا ایک سکون ملا
جسے میں تھا بھولتا آیا وہ وجود ملا
جب آئے موسم غم کے تجھے یاد کیا
جب سہمے تنہاپن سے تجھے یاد کیا

जब जब तेरे पास मैं आया इक सुकून मिला
जिसे मैं था भूलता आया वो वजूद मिला
जब आए मौसम ग़म के तुझे याद किया
जब सहमे तन्हापन से तुझे याद किया

jab-jab tere paas main aaya ek sukoon mila
jise main tha bhoolta aaya wo wajood mila
jab aaye mausam gham ke tujhe yaad kiya
jab sahme tanhaapan se tujhe yaad kiya

Every time I came near you, I found a peace. I found the existence I had been busy forgetting. When the season of grief came, I remembered you. When the loneliness itself frightened me, I remembered you.

The evidence, laid out before the verdict. Wajood is existence, being, and the line says he had been forgetting his own. Near her he remembered who he was, which is the highest thing the passage claims. Then the map of it: two triggers, grief and fear, and both of them route to her. The song is not describing why he loves her. It is describing why he cannot stop, which is a stronger case.

سکون sukoon: peace, stillness
وجود wajood: existence, being
تنہاپن tanhaapan: aloneness, loneliness

02 — sambhal ja zara phir mohabbat karne chala hai tu

سنبھل جا ذرا پھر محبت کرنے چلا ہے تو
دل یہیں رک جا ذرا پھر محبت کرنے چلا ہے تو

संभल जा ज़रा फिर मोहब्बत करने चला है तू
दिल यहीं रुक जा ज़रा फिर मोहब्बत करने चला है तू

sambhal ja zara phir mohabbat karne chala hai tu
dil yahin ruk ja zara phir mohabbat karne chala hai tu

Steady yourself, just a little. You are about to fall in love again. Heart, stop right here, just for a bit. You are about to fall in love again.

The refrain is a man talking to his own heart as a third person, and the zara in both lines is doing the real work. It is the particle of smallness, of just-a-little, and it is addressed to a heart that is about to do something enormous. The futility is built into the grammar: you ask a thing to steady itself zara when it is already falling.

سنبھلنا sambhalna: to steady oneself, to recover one's balance
ذرا zara: just a little, just for a moment

03 — aisa kyun kar hua jaano na main jaano na

ایسا کیوں کر ہوا جانوں نہ میں جانوں نا

ऐसा क्यों कर हुआ जानूँ ना मैं जानूँ ना

aisa kyun kar hua jaano na main jaano na

Why did it happen this way? I don't know, I just don't know.

The song's most honest line, and it appears as a refrain of its own, returned to at the end of each verse. Jaano na, main jaano na: I don't know, I don't know. It is not stupidity being confessed, it is the exact knowledge-state of a person who has mapped their own pattern and is watching it repeat anyway. The song trusts that line more than it trusts its warnings, and it is right to.

جاننا jaanna: to know

04 — jis raah pe hai ghar tera aksar wahan se hoon main guzra

جس راہ پہ ہے گھر تیرا اکثر وہاں سے ہوں میں گزرا
شاید یہی دل میں رہا تو مجھ کو مل جائے کیا پتہ
کیا ہے یہ سلسلہ جانوں نہ میں جانوں نا

जिस राह पे है घर तेरा अक्सर वहाँ से हूँ मैं गुज़रा
शायद यही दिल में रहा तू मुझको मिल जाए क्या पता
क्या है ये सिलसिला जानूँ ना मैं जानूँ ना

jis raah pe hai ghar tera aksar wahan se hoon main guzra
shayad yahi dil mein raha tu mujhko mil jaaye kya pata
kya hai ye silsila jaano na main jaano na

The road your house is on, I have often walked past it. Perhaps this is what stayed in the heart: maybe I will meet you, who knows. What is this chain of things, I don't know, I just don't know.

The passage that makes the song a portrait of ordinary longing. The road past her house, walked often, and the walker cannot say whether the walking was the cause or the effect. Shayad, perhaps, is the word the whole hope hangs on, and kya pata, who knows, is its partner. The two of them are the closest the passage comes to a plan. The silsila, the chain, is the name the song gives to the sequence it cannot break.

شاید shayad: perhaps
سلسلہ silsila: a chain, a sequence that keeps going

05 — kuchh bhi nahin jab darmiyan phir kyun hai dil tere hi khwab bunta

کچھ بھی نہیں جب درمیان پھر کیوں ہے دل تیرے ہی خواب بنتا
چاہا کہ دے تجھ کو بھلا پر یہ بھی ممکن ہو نہ سکا
کیا ہے یہ معاملہ جانوں نہ میں جانوں نا

कुछ भी नहीं जब दरमियाँ फिर क्यों है दिल तेरे ही ख़्वाब बुनता
चाहा कि दे तुझको भुला पर ये भी मुमकिन हो ना सका
क्या है ये मामला जानूँ ना मैं जानूँ ना

kuchh bhi nahin jab darmiyan phir kyun hai dil tere hi khwab bunta
chaha ki de tujhko bhula par ye bhi mumkin ho na saka
kya hai ye maamla jaano na main jaano na

When there is nothing between us at all, why does the heart keep weaving only your dreams? I tried, truly, to forget you, but even that could not be done. What is this business, I don't know, I just don't know.

The case, stated bare. Nothing between them, no claim, no tie, no promise, and still the heart does its one work, weaving her dreams. Then the final confession, which is the largest in the song: he tried to forget her, chaha ki de tujhko bhula, and the attempt itself failed. The line par yeh bhi mumkin ho na saka, but even this could not be done, closes the case. The song's last word is the warning again, and the warning has lost every round.

درمیان darmiyaan: in between, between the two
معاملہ maamla: an affair, a business, a matter

Reading it whole

The song is a self-addressed warning, and its whole art is that the warning is useless. Dil sambhal ja zara: steady yourself, heart, just a little. The zara is the giveaway. It is the particle you use when you still believe a little will be enough, and the song's other repeated line answers it: the heart is about to do the thing anyway. The structure is a man watching his own defeat in advance.

The opening passage explains why the defeat is certain. Every time he came near her he found peace, sukoon, and more: he found the existence, wajood, he had been busy forgetting. The song's first confession is that forgetting her was work, and the work was failing. Then the two lines that map the whole geography of need: when the season of grief came, he remembered her. When the loneliness itself frightened him, he remembered her. Grief and fear are the two roads, and both lead to the same address.

The refrain is the warning, and the warning keeps losing to the evidence. Aisa kyun kar hua, jaano na, main jaano na: why did it happen this way, I don't know, I just don't know. The ignorance is not a confession of stupidity, it is the exact state of a person watching themselves repeat a pattern they have already fully mapped. Knowing the mechanics of your own fall does not stop the fall. The song is built on that, and it is why it rings true.

The second verse catches the ordinary life of a longing. The road that passes her house, and how often he has walked it, on purpose, while telling himself it was on the way. Shayad yahi dil mein raha: perhaps this stayed in the heart, the hope that she might appear, who knows. The hope is tucked inside the word shayad, perhaps, the way actual hope always is.

The last verse states the case in its bare form. Nothing between them, nothing at all, kuchh bhi nahin jab darmiyaan, and still the heart keeps weaving her dreams. He tried to forget her, and even that was not possible, and the word the song uses for the attempt, chaha ki de tujhko bhula, carries the whole failure in its grammar. The song ends on the warning again, which means it ends exactly where it began, which is what falling in love again means.

The recording splits the verses between three voices, which suits a song that is really a committee inside one person. Mohammed Irfan, Arijit Singh and Saim Bhat each carry a passage, and Mithoon's arrangement keeps the whole thing quiet enough that the words stay in charge.

Recordings

Mohammed Irfan, Arijit Singh and Saim Bhat

From Murder 2 (2011), composed by Mithoon.

Text and rights

Devanagari text supplied and checked by a reader who knows the language. The Urdu script and the transliteration follow that reading.

From the 2011 film Murder 2, composed by Mithoon. The refrain returns between passages in the recording, more often than it is printed here.

Sayeed Quadri is alive and writing, so this song is still in copyright. It is quoted here as the subject of Harf's own criticism: the translation, the reading of each passage and the essay around them are original work written for this page. If you hold the rights and would like something changed, tell us on Instagram.